Hyacinth (9 page)

And then Selene
had made a discovery. Her ability to hide her emotions and thoughts wasn’t just
a strong will. It was the start of a different gift—the ability to hide things.
She kept Gideon from knowing she’d developed new powers. She even learned how
to hide people who possessed abilities from Gideon’s tracker, Sheila.

At first, she could
only apply it to one person at a time. She started secretly practicing on new
Vyusher in the pack as they developed new gifts. Eventually she had taken the
risk of trying it during an attack, hiding a child whose powers were obviously
fairly new and saving its life. It was a small personal victory, but it was
something… her way of defying her brother and fighting against the horror that
her pack had become.

Shortly after
developing this skill, Selene had come into her two other powers, which she
also kept secret. The first was the ability to appear to people in dreams. She
wasn’t able to manipulate them or force them to dream something specific. But
she could speak to them and walk with them.

The other gift
she inherited was the ability to strengthen other people’s powers. Selene had
lived in terror that her brother would figure it out and find some way to use
it against others. If Gideon had the ability to enhance their pack’s most
dangerous powers, he would be unstoppable.

Her most
impactful moment of rebellion against her brother and their life had started
the night she’d first seen Griffin and Ellie. Selene had been watching over a
battle raging in a gypsy encampment. Vyusher wolves moved through the
Svatura
,
attacking where needed, ripping them to shreds. Selene’s job was to turn off
specific powers on Gideon’s command. She’d made him believe that she could only
affect powers she actually saw in action. The first
Svatura
she’d
disabled was a magnificent golden dragon. She’d focused on him and he’d
instantly shifted back to human. He hadn’t lasted long after that with the
Vyusher wolves surrounding him.

Ellie’s gripped
Selene’s hand tightly. “Grandfather,” she whispered, a hitch in her voice.

Regret and
loathing for her role in his death slammed into Selene. She glanced at the
twins. “I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I don’t have to keep going with the rest of
that—”

“No. I want to
see it,” Ellie insisted.

“Okay.” Selene
closed her eyes and began picturing the rest of that night.

Toward the end
of the attack, after most everyone was dead, a boy and a girl a little younger
than Selene ran smack into her brother. Gideon, in the form of a huge black
wolf, circled them menacingly. The two kept their backs to each other as more
wolves surrounded them. Suddenly, Gideon lunged for the girl. She’d held up her
hands in defense, and the instant she touched him, she morphed into a small
black wolf herself. Gideon stumbled back in bewilderment. But he recovered
quickly and tried to use the linked pack mind, which Selene could hear.

“Join us,” he
growled at the girl.

The small female
wolf shook her head as though she was confused. Or fighting something.
Suddenly, the connection Selene felt to the wolf-girl ceased, like a switch had
been flipped. The boy jumped forward and touched the girl’s arm. She morphed
back to human form and looked at him. And then, just as suddenly, both the boy
and the girl turned into falcons, one jet black and one golden, and they flew
away.

Selene hadn’t
realize she was shaking until she felt Griffin’s hand tighten on hers, giving a
little tug. She opened her eyes and found his gaze trained on her. For once,
hostility had been replaced by a gentler, kinder emotion.

“If you need a
break, we can stop for a little bit,” he whispered.

Selene searched
his eyes for a moment, waiting for the antagonism to return. But he just
watched her calmly.

She took a deep
breath and shook her head. “No, I’d rather just get this over with,” she
replied in a soft voice. “There’s not much more.”

Closing her eyes
again, she heard Griffin mutter, “I don’t think I can take much more.”

Selene concentrated
on telling the rest of her story and ran through the next scenes quickly. This part
she’d already shared with Ellie. She showed them Gideon’s ensuing obsession
with bringing Ellie into the pack and how she’d hidden them from Sheila’s
searching. She briefly covered how she’d tried to reach them through Griffin’s
dreams and eventually was able to through Ellie’s. Then she showed them the
final battle when they’d freed her forever from her brother’s terrible reign.

Finally, she
showed them the past year…the memories slowly returning to her people… their
despair over what they’d been a part of… and their determination to rebuild and
start over.

Selene paused.
When she opened her eyes, she was amazed to see tears on most of the faces
around her. She’d done her best to shield them from her emotions, but it hadn’t
been enough apparently.

“Before I go
on,” Selene broke the heavy silence, “Do you have any questions so far?”

“My heaven,”
Lucy was the first to speak. “Ellie had told us, but I didn’t understand until
now. You poor child.”

“I didn’t know
all of
that
,” Ellie commented, her voice trembling. “How did you find
the strength, all those years, to keep fighting him? And all on your own?”

“I focused on
helping as many people as I could, like you and Griffin. And I held on to the
hope that someone would eventually defeat him.”

“How did you
make it through all that without becoming twisted yourself?” Ramsey asked.
Having balanced on the razor-edge of bitterness and rage himself, he was
impressed. As a firestarter, he was in constant danger from volatile emotions.
Most firestarters didn’t live very long. It had taken a degree of strength to
keep the power within him under control while Selene had shared her story with
them, and he’d really only managed to do so with Lila’s help.

Selene gave him
a funny little smile. “How do you know I didn’t?”

They were all surprised
by this, and Nate gave a sharp laugh.

“I’m not trying
to be flippant,” Selene explained. “I’m not even sure that something didn’t
warp inside me. I got really good at completely turning off my emotions. Like a
robot. It’s a thought that scares the hell outta me.”

Sliding a glance
at Griffin, who was regarding her steadily but had yet to say anything, Selene
gathered her courage. Her shoulders rose and fell with her deep breath. “In
fact, I can’t say for certain that the wolf attack last night wasn’t me,” she
admitted.

Griffin tensed,
and Selene felt something inside her chest clench.

“What do you
mean?” Hugh asked, concern clouding his kind brown eyes.

Selene grimaced.
“I left the Vyusher not just to go to college—that was just a welcome excuse. I
left because I’d been having these dreams. Nightmares really…”

“About wolf
attacks?” Dexter guessed.

“Yes. In my
dreams it’s always a white wolf.”

“But you control
dreams, right?” Nate asked, his deep brown eyes openly curious.

“Not
necessarily. I can visit people, but they’re still in control, mostly. And they
have to let me in. Also, I’ve never had my own dreams before. What if…” Selene
couldn’t finish the thought.

“What if you’re
responsible for the murders?” Ellie completed.

Selene bit her
lip and nodded. “I can show you last night’s dream.”

She closed her
eyes again and replayed the night’s events… of waking up in a terrified panic,
yet with no blood on her or any evidence whatsoever that she’d been anywhere
but her bed. And then later of learning about the wolf attack from Ellie.

Selene opened
her eyes. “I know I have no right to ask, but I don’t know what to do. Can you
help me?” she pleaded.

Griffin abruptly
stood and let go of her hand, his expression unreadable. Then he turned on his
heel and left the room.

“Let him go,”
Ellie told Alex as he made a move to follow. “He just needs time to think
through everything.” She turned to Selene with a wry smile. “You’ve given him a
lot to deal with.”

“I have an
idea,” Charlotte piped up, drawing everyone’s attention. “What if Selene stayed
here, and we each took turns keeping an eye on her at all times? Then if
there’s another wolf attack, we’ll know whether it’s her or not.”

Everyone nodded,
agreeing with her idea.

“But what if it
is
me?” Selene fretted. “What if I attack one of
you
?”

“We’ll do this
in pairs.” Dexter stood and offered his hand to Charlotte. “There’s safety in
numbers.” He nodded to Selene. “You taught us that.”

Selene shook her
head. “But to put yourselves in danger for me… I can’t ask you to do that.”

“I can make sure
that I’m with you,” Ellie offered. “If I touch you, I can control your powers.”

Selene continued
to shake her head. “I can still turn you off…. I could do it permanently, if I
concentrated hard enough. It’s that powerful. You saw.”

Nate pulled his
tall, lanky form off the floor and stood beside Ramsey. “Are you sure? You
didn’t turn them off when we were fighting your pack.”

“Gideon rarely
had me do it. It took all of my concentration in one place for too long to be
strategically worth it.”

“Well, after
what you just showed us and the risks you took to save my future wife, there’s
no way we would let you deal with this alone.” Alex smiled at Selene and
glanced around the room. Everyone else nodded their agreement.

Selene was
touched by this show of support, but frowned. “If it’s not me,” she began, “then
it’s likely someone from my pack. Either way, I can’t go back to them with this
yet. Not until I know more. So I guess we do what we can together. Thank you.”

She stole a
quick glance over her shoulder, hoping to catch sight of Griffin. No such luck.
Selene briefly closed her eyes and said a silent wish, praying with all her
heart that the decision would prove to be a good one… and that maybe, just
maybe, Griffin would learn to trust her someday.

Or at least not
hate her as much as he did now.

Selene sat on
her usual bench and studied for finals, while Alex and Ellie kept watch beside
her. It was mid-December now, and there was snow on the ground. But
Svatura
and Vyusher weren’t quite as affected by the elements, and Selene liked being
outdoors.

Someone had been
with Ellie twenty-four hours a day for the last several weeks. Everyone except
Griffin. No one had seen him since the night he’d walked out of Hugh and Lucy’s
house.

Ellie had tried
to reassure her that it was okay… that Griffin was just figuring a few things
out and needed some space. But Selene caught the worried look on her face. Even
Alex seemed concerned.

During the time
she’d been under surveillance, there hadn’t been any more attacks and she
hadn’t had the nightmares. But she wasn’t sure if this was good or bad. There
were just too many questions about this entire situation. And while Selene was
happy that no one else had been hurt, she almost hoped something would happen
just to give them a chance to figure it all out.

Ellie
straightened in her seat, drawing Alex’s and Selene’s watchful gazes.
“Something wrong, baby?” Alex asked, placing a hand on Ellie’s shoulder.

Ellie paused
then shook her head. “No, nothing’s wrong. I—…I think I need a Coke. Come with
me?”

Alex frowned.
“What about Selene?”

“We’ll only be
gone a minute or two, and we’re not going very far.” Ellie took Alex’s hand and
pulled him to his feet.

Alex shrugged.
“Sure…whatever. Be right back, Selene.”

Selene nodded
and watched them walk away, momentarily curious at their odd interaction. Then
she returned her attention back to her books.

“I thought it
would be a good idea if we had a talk,” a deep voice sounded behind her.

Selene froze. So
that
was why Ellie had rushed off with Alex
.
Selene didn’t know
if she wanted to hug her new friend… or strangle her. For once, she hadn’t
noticed Griffin approach. He must not’ve been using his power.

“About what?” she
asked, her serene voice masking her inner turmoil.

Griffin approached
the bench and sat down beside her. “I thought we should talk about
forgiveness.”

Selene met his
gaze. “Forgiveness?”

Griffin let out
a deep sigh. “Yes… to be honest, I don’t know if I will ever be able to forgive
your part in my family’s deaths.”

Selene looked
back down at her notes but couldn’t see the words. Pain stole her breath as her
worst fears were confirmed.

“But,” Griffin
continued, “I think I understand your involvement. And I do appreciate your
attempts to help Ellie and me. So I accept your apology.”